Sunday, November 11, 2012

The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore

I grew up thinking that the Walker Brothers were British. After all, their signature Sixties songs were recorded over there, they were huge there, and their tunes came over in the wave that brought the Beatles, the Stones, the Who, Kinks, Lulu and countless other acts.

Nope.

And several things I thought turned out to be wrong, too.

First, they weren't British, but American, and had relocated to London to kickstart their career.

Second, their last names were not Walker. That's a stage name.

Third, they weren't brothers. They were, in fact, not even related. The Walker Brothers was a stage name the trio created.

Fourth, Scott Walker - the brilliant singer who went on to become of the most peculiar out-there artists who worked in both pop and avant garde (and the subject of the absorbing documentary 30th Century Man) - had a different first name going growing up. Noel Scott Engel has gone by his second name professionally since his teens.

All the same, the Walker Brothers are a curious act. They weren't the first to take a crack at The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine, but they own it, in part because of the intricate orchestration and production; in the aforementioned documentary, Walker (a notorious recluse who does very few interviews, ever) talked about the precise sound he wanted to hear. It's remarkable how clean it sounds almost 50 years later.

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The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore

I grew up thinking that the Walker Brothers were British. After all, their signature Sixties songs were recorded over there, they were huge there, and their tunes came over in the wave that brought the Beatles, the Stones, the Who, Kinks, Lulu and countless other acts.

Nope.

And several things I thought turned out to be wrong, too.

First, they weren't British, but American, and had relocated to London to kickstart their career.

Second, their last names were not Walker. That's a stage name.

Third, they weren't brothers. They were, in fact, not even related. The Walker Brothers was a stage name the trio created.

Fourth, Scott Walker - the brilliant singer who went on to become of the most peculiar out-there artists who worked in both pop and avant garde (and the subject of the absorbing documentary 30th Century Man) - had a different first name going growing up. Noel Scott Engel has gone by his second name professionally since his teens.

All the same, the Walker Brothers are a curious act. They weren't the first to take a crack at The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine, but they own it, in part because of the intricate orchestration and production; in the aforementioned documentary, Walker (a notorious recluse who does very few interviews, ever) talked about the precise sound he wanted to hear. It's remarkable how clean it sounds almost 50 years later.

Why Dot Dot Dot?

That is, where did this blog get its name?

Dot Dot Dot is Morse code for the letter 'S,' the full message Guglielmo Marconi claimed to have received atop Signal Hill in St. John's in 1901. It ushered in the age of telecommunications. My maternal grandfather worked as a telegraph operator for Canadian Marconi on Signal Hill for many years.
As well, I have a habit of overusing the ellipsis when I write ... as frequent readers might notice.